Red Rowan: Book 1: Forester's son

by Helen Gosney

  “He’s too much like me in some ways. He looks a lot like his mother, but he’s as tough and as stubborn as a team of mules, just like me… Truly, I don’t want him to join the Guard, but in the long run it’s his life to live, not mine. And the forest and his family will still be there when he comes back to us.” Rhys believed his son would return to the forest eventually, but only if they didn’t mess it up now. He looked squarely at Telli again.

  “But, the truth of it is… if I was to really put my foot down over this, well… it’d go one of two ways. He could stay in the forest to please me, and be unhappy. Oh, he truly loves the forest and he’d try to make the best of it, but he wouldn’t be happy in his life… Or else he’d simply leave the forest, leave his home and family and he wouldn’t be happy that way either…” And neither would I, he thought. Rhys loved his obstinate, exasperating son very much.

  “I know he’s too young and he knows he’s too young, but… he really is a good lad, Sir. He’s not a big lad, never will be I don’t think, but… well, it’s not an easy life in the forest and he’s strong and fit and tough as I said. He can look after himself, believe me, he can hold his own with all the other lads, though they’re a lot bigger than him, and I truly think he could take anything that you might throw at him.”

  Telli was impressed by the honest way Rhys had spoken. Obviously his main concern was that his son should be contented in his life, and without burning his bridges behind him. He thought a bit more. Truly, he hadn’t had to do so much thinking for quite a while. The lad was only fourteen after all, but Telli doubted he’d ever seen a more capable looking young fellow. Maybe… Finally he decided.

  “Well, Rhys, let me just put to you a little idea I’ve had in my mind for a while… but from what you say we won’t need to be going a bit easier on young Rowan.”

  “No, Sir, you won’t. And truly, he won’t thank you if you do.”

  Rowan looked up as his father opened the door and beckoned him in, his face unreadable. He went back into the Captain’s little office and stood straight and still before him again.

  “Rowan, your father and I have been talking…” Telli bit back a smile as the boy’s face fell. “Suppose we tried you for, I don’t know, six or eight weeks? If you’re struggling to keep up with the other lads, then you could come back next year when you’ve grown a bit more…”

  Telli’s reward was there in the way the lad’s face lit up and his headache was finally improving too, he realised. Perhaps his day was too. And what the Commandant didn’t know about wouldn’t keep him awake at night, he thought virtuously.

  “Thank you, Sir,” Rowan said simply, “I won’t let you down.”

  **********

  He took the axe from his back and turned to his father.

  “Will you look after this for me please, Pa? I don’t think I’ll be able to use it much here, but could you keep it safe for when I come home?” he asked softly.

  There was something more to this than met the eye, Telli realised, as Rhys took the axe and put it on his back beside his own axe and said formally, “Yes, my son, I shall keep it safe for you. It will be sharp and ready for you when you have need of it.”

  Rowan smiled as if relieved and then he hugged Rhys tightly.

  “Thank you, Pa,” he said, “I truly will come back to the forest when I’m ready, I promise.”

  Rhys nodded and smiled down at him. The mere fact that he was the guardian of Rowan’s axe told him all he needed to know. Rowan might be away from the trees for a while, perhaps a long while, but he’d always return to them.

  “I know you will, laddie, else I couldn’t bear to leave you here. Are you truly sure this is what you want? You know you can still come back home with me now,” he said gently.

  “Yes, Pa. I’m sure,” Rowan said, swallowing the lump in his throat, “And be… be careful going back over the Scream, Pa. Let the mare go first and give the lead…”

  “I will, and you be careful too, my brave lad. I’ll be looking out for you when they give you leave… we all will, “ Rhys swallowed hard too and bent to kiss Rowan’s cheek.

  “Thank you, Captain,” he said as he straightened, “You’ve got a good lad here. Take care of him.”

  Telli nodded as he shook Rhys’s big, callused hand.

  “We will. I think he’ll do you proud.”

  “Of course he will. He always does.” Rhys smiled at him and Rowan and turned away.

  “Are you all right, Rowan?” Telli asked quietly as Rhys rode out of the Gate, leading Rowan’s horse. Obviously the lad’s father wasn’t expecting him to give up any time soon. Perhaps the business with the boy’s axe had something to do with that.

  Rowan nodded.

  “Yes, Sir. I’m… I’m all right, Sir,” he said, “The forest will wait for me.”

  “So it will. It’ll still be there for you when you go back.” Telli looked at him. He was a mature lad in spite of his youthful face, he thought, and he’d handled the parting well. “Come with me, then. I’ll take you to Sergeant Coll, who’s in charge of the recruits.”

  **********

  Sergeant Coll was surprised, to say the least, when Telli presented him with a new recruit. The others had started nearly six weeks ago and this lad… Coll looked out the window at him where he stood straight and tall, looking at a couple of troop horses tied there while the two men talked inside the office… his handsome face looked so young. And he was a Siannen forester.

  “How old’s this lad, Sir?” he muttered.

  “Fourteen.”

  “Four… fourteen, Sir?” Coll was aghast.

  Telli nodded.

  “Aye. But look at him. Forget how young his face looks, he can’t help that; look at his shoulders and his arms. Look at how strong and fit he is. Look at the damned calluses on his hands, he’s used to hard work. He can wield an axe in the forest all bloody day and he can keep up with the foresters’ hunters. Could any of those other louts we’ve taken on do that? Could you? I bloody couldn’t, that’s for sure and I couldn’t have twenty years ago either,” Telli said, “Anyway, I promised him and his Pa that he could start now, and if he’s not coping in six weeks or so…” he shrugged, “Well, he can always come back to us when he’s a bit older.”

  “From Sian?”

  “Aye, why not? He’s come here from Sian now, hasn’t he?”

  “But the other lads are six weeks ahead of him…”

  Telli shrugged again.

  “They had to wait till the Dogleg Pass was clear. The lad can ride, he can track, he can use a bow and a knife and an axe, he’s physically very fit… I truly don’t think it’ll matter.”

  Coll looked out of his window again. Rowan was stroking the troop horses as they snuffled happily at his hands. The lad was obviously used to horses, had ridden here from Sian over the cursed Dogleg Pass after all, and how the foresters actually managed to do that was nobody’s business. He certainly looked fit and strong. Coll and Telli had talked about recruiting younger lads, but he hadn’t thought of taking just the one. He sighed, hating what he was about to say, but knowing that he had to say it.

  “You know the others will give him a bloody hard time, with his pretty face and his long hair and him being so much younger than them? Just being Siannen would be enough, without all of that. I heard that idiot Mano going on about foresters the other day. ‘Savages’ he called them. ‘Hardly more than beasts’. I nearly thumped him. Mind you, I doubt he’s ever seen a forester, much less met one.”

  Well, he’s in for a surprise with this lad, Telli thought. All the same, he’d made it very clear to both Rowan and his father that there’d likely be problems at first. They’d been surprised, but unconcerned. He nodded slowly.

  “His Pa says he can look out for himself,” he said.

  “Aye, well… he’ll need to. A couple of the lads are nearly seventeen and they’re full of themselves. I’ll try and look out for him, but I’m not always going to be there…” Coll said.<
br />
  Telli nodded again.

  “Aye, I know… he and his Pa know too.”

  “Well, I suppose he can always come back in a year or two, as you say,” Coll said, “Rowan, you say his name is?”

  “Aye. Rowan d’Rhys d’Rhuary a’Quint del’Quist.” Telli smiled. “I don’t think he uses all of it.”

  “These bloody Siannen names!” Coll laughed. He strode to the door and went outside to the lad waiting patiently there. “Come with me, young Red. I’ll show you where things are and then I’ll introduce you to the other layabouts.”

  **********

  2.“I’m damned glad this young fellow’s going to be on our side!”

  Sword Master Hibbon Harrelson came into Telli’s office in response to his summons. He was a wiry, strongly muscled man in his mid-forties, not tall, with greying light brown hair and shrewd brown eyes. He saluted as he came in and then he made himself comfortable in the visitors’ chair.

  “Comfy there, are you?” Telli asked with a grin.

  “Aye, thanks, I am. This is much better than that other old bugger,” Hibbon laughed, “I was on my way to see you when I got the summons.”

  “Oh aye? And what did you want to see me about?”

  “It can wait. More importantly, Telli, what did you want to see ME about? Have I been a naughty boy again?”

  Telli laughed at his old friend and mentor.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” He became more serious. “No, I took on a new recruit today. A young lad from Sian… I’d like you to have a look at him…”

  “Ah.” Hibbon looked at him, his face inscrutable. “Now it’s funny you should say that, laddie. This Siannen you’ve taken on, and so long after all the others, I might add… he’s not by any chance a very young looking forester lad who’s damned nearly as tall as I am, and who walks like a bloody great hunting cat, is he? Looks strong and fit and very bloody capable? Face like an angel? Hmm?”

  Telli laughed again and poured Hibbon a drink.

  “I can’t put anything past you, can I? Aye, that’s him. Young Rowan del’Quist.”

  “How old is he, Telli? He must be older than he looks, but even so I’m damned sure he’s not sixteen yet. Is he?”

  Telli shook his head.

  “No, he’s fourteen.”

  Hibbon raised his eyebrows at that, a reaction equivalent to another man’s shocked gasp.

  “Fourteen.”

  “Aye,” Telli said quietly, “I just thought he was too good to send all the way back to Sian. I think he’ll hold his own with the other lads even though they’ve got a start on him.”

  “And I suppose he came through that cursed Dogleg Pass? Must be barely thawed. The lad’s not a runaway, is he?”

  “No… he and his Pa would have come sooner, but they had to wait until the Pass was clear. Well, clear enough, anyway. There’d still be ice and snow up there of course.”

  “Daft buggers, these foresters. Good folk though. Dunno when I’ve last heard of one joining the Wirran Guard…” Hibbon said thoughtfully. “So, what do you want me to take a look at him for? You’ve already taken him on, you said.”

  “Aye, I have. Well, officially he’s on trial for six weeks or so, and if he can’t keep up with the other lads he can come back next year when he’s grown a bit, got a bit stronger. Between you and me, I don’t think he’ll be leaving anytime soon.”

  Hibbon smiled.

  “He might need to be a bit stronger, you think? Gods, man, I saw that lad walking past with Coll and he’s probably already stronger than the rest of the new recruits put together. He’s not a heavy lad, doesn’t carry any excess weight, but he’s certainly not small to anyone but a forester. He’ll have been working in the forest with the men for a couple of years, and if he can keep up with them he can keep up with anyone here. I’ll wager he’s damned good with an axe and probably a bow and a knife too.”

  Telli nodded.

  “Aye, his Pa said he’d been out with the hunters since he was six. Says he’s bloody good with any tool or weapon that they use. He’d never held a sword though, until I tossed him mine…”

  Hibbon raised his eyebrows again.

  “Well, he wasn’t limping, so he didn’t cut his foot off,” he said dryly, “I didn’t notice if he still had all his fingers.”

  “You daft bugger! Hibbon, he… he caught it like he’d been doing it all his life. No hesitation at all. And he can use either hand too, like me. No, better than me, I think. He tossed the blade from hand to hand… his Pa says he’s always done that with an unfamiliar tool or weapon to get the balance of it, and dammit, he settled on a good grip too. Strong but relaxed.”

  “Did he wield it like an axe?”

  “No. No, he didn’t. Hibbon, I… I know you’ll think I’m daft, but I think he’s going to be something special.” Telli shook his head slowly, still astonished at what he’d seen. “He held that damned sabre like he was born to do it. His stance, his balance, was perfect.”

  Hibbon looked at him carefully, surprised. Telli wasn’t one to get excited over nothing, he knew, and he was a good judge of a lad’s potential. If he thought this young Siannen was going to be something out of the ordinary, he was probably right.

  “Ah. Then I’d better have a look at him, Telli,” Hibbon said. He’d trained both Telli and Johan for the last Champions’ Trophy, the most important and most prestigious competition for swordsmen in all of Yaarl. Telli had done very, very well, finishing in the Round of Four; Johan had won it and was the reigning Champion. Hibbon himself had been runner-up in the Trophy before that, held ten years prior. What he didn’t know about swordsmanship and the training of swordsmen wasn’t worth knowing.

  “Well…? Are you going to come too, laddie?” he said casually as he headed for the door.

  “What, now? You’re going now?”

  “Aye, why not? No time like the present. There’s an hour or so before supper, and it’ll help the boy work up an appetite. Mind you, I’ve never heard that foresters need any help in that department. Do you think Coll will still be showing him around?”

  “Aye, probably. They should be through with the stables and on the way to the barracks. Maybe we can head them off,” Telli laughed.

  In the event, they’d caught up with Sergeant Coll and his new recruit as they left the stables. It seemed there’d been a bit of a delay there for some reason. Well, it didn’t matter. Hibbon introduced himself and asked Rowan to come to the salle with him.

  “Yes, Sir. Of course, Sir,” the lad replied with a good attempt at a salute.

  Telli and Coll went with them to the indoor training circles, wondering just what Hibbon might have in mind. He was an exacting taskmaster, hard but fair, with an unerring instinct and little use for those who were wasting his time.

  **********

  Hibbon looked at the lad standing straight and tall before him. Hmm… Not a fidgeter, thank the Gods, he thought. Long-limbed, strong and fit… he looks like he’s ready for anything. Well, he probably is. It’s not an easy life in the forest and it’s not an easy thing for a forester to leave there. Not a usual thing either. At least this lad wasn’t a runaway, but there’d have been some interesting discussions at home, he was sure.

  “Show me your hands please, laddie,” he said.

  “My…? Yes, Sir,” Rowan replied, wondering why the man would be interested in his hands, of all things. He had two of them, didn’t he?

  Hibbon nodded thoughtfully and tried not to laugh at the puzzled look on the boy’s face. Hmm. Smallish hands, but long-fingered, strong and well shaped. A few scars and scrapes, but clean. Well callused too. This lad was used to hard work, and he wouldn’t be complaining about a few blisters. Good.

  “And now your knife please,” he said.

  “Yes, Sir,” Rowan replied, handing it over hilt first.

  It was a good, well-balanced hunting knife: heavy bladed, very sharp and with a tree carved into its bone hilt. That wasn’t all it was, Hibbo
n realised as he looked at it more carefully.

  “This is a dwarven knife.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “And how do you come to have a dwarven knife?”

  The lad’s remarkable eyes widened, surprised.

  “I… ‘Twas given to me by my Pa, Sir, when I turned twelve,” he managed, “’Twas made by Master Smith Jeldaron of the g’Farrien clan, Sir. He and his family are blacksmiths at home.”

  “Ah.” A good, useful gift for a lad just become a man in the eyes of his clan. “It’s a fine knife, lad. I think your Master Smith Jeldaron is used to making more than just horseshoes and nails.”

  “Yes, Sir. He makes axes and knives and… and, er, lots of things, Sir.”

  “Does he, indeed? Now, I’m sure you know how to use this, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Sir. Your pardon, Sir, I… I’m still getting my tongue around saying ‘aye, Sir’.”

  Hibbon smiled at him.

  “Don’t fret yourself, you’ll get used to it. Now… see that post over there?” he indicated the one he meant, “There’s a knothole halfway up. See it? Good. See how close you can throw the knife to it.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  It wasn’t really a throwing knife, but Rowan balanced it carefully and threw it as best he could.

  Hibbon pulled the knife from the top of the knothole without a word and went back to Rowan.

  “Captain Telli says you can use either hand. Show me.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Again the knife thudded into the post, a fraction away from its first position. Telli and Coll looked at each other in surprise, knowing only too well that some of the new recruits would have missed the post by a foot or more and those who managed to hit it would probably not have their knives stay in the post. Knife practice could be… interesting at times. They said nothing as Hibbon retrieved the knife and handed it back to Rowan.